Here is a snippet from the table of contents on Exotic Spiritual Tea Cultures. This chapter is about the studies I did with the various spiritual tea cultures of China during my tea hunting adventures as a wild tea hunter:

Exotic Spiritual Tea Cultures

• Taoist Tea Culture
• Taoist Temple Tea
• Taoist Tea Master Yu
• Transcending from a Tea Taster to a Tea Feeler
• Tea Qigong
• Using The Five Elements of Tea for Healing
• Taoist Tea Ceremony
• Buddhist Tea CultureTribal Cultures Of Yunnan
• Wa Tribal Tea Culture
• Yi Tribal Tea Culture
• Hani Tribal Tea Culture
• Bai Tribal Tea Culture

Check in for more updates on this release we are really excited to present it to you soon!

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Recently there has been more and more theorizing on the major ancient tree tea benefits. Thus, more and more drinkers are turning towards drinking these amazing teas.One of the major ancient tree tea benefits is that they don’t need any pesticides or herbicides. They have a natural repellant. In fact if a farmer uses pesticides on the ancient tea trees it will eventually kill them.

Currently there is a major corporate player in the tea business doing a three year research project on several of the wild and ancient tea trees I have sourced to test several theories. The theories are based off of several factors.

3 Theories of Research of Ancient Tree Tea Benefits

1. The roots of ancient tea trees have a much more complex system of development and also they grow much deeper into the earth
2. They grow in bio diverse environments where there are many other influences from other plants and the local ecology.
3. Due to the fact that they grow in a bio diverse environment in often times undisturbed soils, the soil is much more rich than a standard mono-crop farmed tea.

This all leads to several conclusions: they contain higher levels of polyphenols (catechin/flavonoid, flavones, anthocyanin and phenolic acids) than standard farmed teas. They are also testing to find what other nutrients these teas have that other standard farmed teas do not. If the results are positive, they are going to seek a way to produce these teas on a large-scale level.

One of the most extraordinary ancient tea plantations I have seen lies on Jingmai and Mangjing Mountain. It’s tea trees spread out to cover over 11,000 acres of mountains. The ancient tea forest of this mountainous area lies about 5,000 feet above sea level and is constantly surrounded by mist. The soil and climate is rich making the perfect conditions for these ancient tea trees.  A local historian told me that tea cultivation began over 1,200 years ago and that many of the tea trees are over 1,000 plus years old. It is the largest ancient tea plantation ever found in China that is still producing tea today.

My favorite Ancient tea tree White Tea is Ancient Moonlight White. I have tried an ancient tree black tea, but the quantity was so scarce I could only buy enough for my own consumption. I love all of our ancient tree Puers for sure.

At Wild Tea Qi we have a variety of ancient tree tea to choose from. I also will be writing about this in much more detail in my new book, Wild Tea Hunter due out at in June at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas.

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Deep in the majestic mountains of Wuyishan live a small village of artisan tea farmers, a modern day tea farmers collective.  The whole village is a part of this modern day tea farmers collective. I first met these beautiful people when my I Ching master brought me there to show me an amazing wild tea tree forest.  The farmer’s livelihood are Wuyi Mountain Oolong and Black teas. This is a rare village in where the profits are divided equally amongst the group, which is the Fairest of Trade. They are like a big family as their village is less than 50 people, has a courtyard in the center and surrounded by beautiful mountains. I have never seen several tea farmers collectives, but none like this before. The houses are all clean and good condition with organic vegetables growing all around. When I went there for the first time their village made me a huge meal of wild mushrooms, village chicken and beautiful green vegetables. The food was incredibly delicious. The village is made up of a small group of nicely built houses that has a beautiful courtyard in the center. Everyone’s houses are very clean. The whole village is very warm and inviting. The village is very tightly knit so the whole family likes to do everything together. When the children are not in school they like to accompany their parents to learn the art of picking tea and processing it. It is an art they pass down to generation after generation. Since I first started buying teas from them about 4 years ago, their prices seem to rise steadily as the demand in China for their teas has skyrocketed. Their teas are exquisite, some of the best I have seen come out of Wuyishan. In addition they have very rare, wild teas they harvest from a bamboo forest like the Wild Rock Oolong (Da Hong Pao) . They have a rare, wild, ancient tea tree forest that has been harvested for generations. I have since brought tour groups out there to meet this incredible village and see their amazing wild tea tree plantations.  We made a great video of the Wuyi Tea Farmers Collective on our Youtube channel: wildteaqi

Other teas by the Wuyi Tea Farmers Collective:

• Wild Bamboo Qi
• Wuyi Golden Water
• Big Red Robe (Dahongpao)
• Wild Rock Oolong (Da Hong Pao) 

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Wild Gynostemma, otherwise known as Jiaogulan in Chinese is revered as the anti-aging, longevity drink in China and Japan. It is also used as a virtual “cure-all”. In the 1970’s much research was done in China on the benefits of Gynostemma, so much that it drew the attention of Japanese scientists and doctors. When the Japanese arrived in China, they realized that many octogenarians were drinking Gynostemma. The researched not only it’s health-producing benefits, but also its longevity producing potential. By the 1980’s the Chinese and Japanese have mounted massive investigations into herb and it’s saponins.

The Japanese cultivated a sweet variety and then had it planted in China. Now most typical Gynostemma is very sweet because of this. There is still Wild Gynostemma. Wild Gynostemma is not as sweet, but its health benefits are superior to the farmed kind. When I first began sourcing Gynostemma I knew I had to find a wild kind to get the kind of Qi I was looking for.

The ultimate life giving qualities lies in its broad-spectrum adaptogenic quality. It has the ability to bring the body into balance under a wide range of stressful circumstances.

8 Reasons to Drink Wild Gynostemma Daily

1. Contains many amino acids, vitamins and minerals that are essential to the human body, including zinc, magnesium, manganese, calcium, iron, potassium and phosphorus.
2. Has more than 80 different gypenosides, making it more than ginseng, which only has about 36 saponins (gynsenosides). The similarities are so close; they now call it the Southern Ginseng because it grows in south China.
3. Used as a “cure-all” to treat a wide variety of conditions and illnesses such as inflammation, remove mucus, bronchitis, stop cough, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, migraines, diabetes, insomnia, the common cold, gastritis, gastric ulcers, arthritis, acne, warts, various allergies, premature graying or loss of hair.
4. Used to treat a number of mental and neurological conditions including simple depression, anxiety, and even schizophrenia.
5. Reduces fat, speeds the metabolism, regulates blood sugar
6. It is been shown that athletes who drink Gynostemma put on more lean muscle than those who do not.
7. Studies into the anti-cancer activity of Gynostemma have shown a significant (20-80%) inhibition rate on a wide range of cancer cells.
8. Since there are no side effects it is safe and recommended to drink daily.

For many Chinese who are into a lifestyle that nurtures longevity and good health, they drink 1-2 cups per day of Wild Gynostemma. I personally love to drink it everyday. I am a martial artist and a practitioner of Qigong so I drink it to enhance my practices as it helps my body adapt to the stress I put on it with my exercises.

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Here is another excerpt from my upcoming book on my adventures in tea hunting. Would love to know your opinions on a good title! Enjoy!

Along my travels in Guangdong Province, my good dear friend Chen brought me to have tea with the Buddhists at a beautiful Buddhist Temple deep in the mountains of Chaozhou. The temple was a quiet and serene place with thin forest all around and mountains as far as the eye could see. We went through a series of huge rooms filled with colorful Buddhist statues that some monks were kneeled down praying to. The thick scent of aromatic incense filled the air everywhere, bringing a sort of mystical feeling to us. As we walked through the various temples on the property we eventually came to a large area outside filled with statues and in the center was a giant brown tea table carved out of wood. There stood several monks dressed in yellow and brown robes. Smiling they asked us to sit down for tea. We gladly accepted their offer. There they taught us their tea ceremony.

One of the monks was in charge of brewing tea, while another managed the water. The other was responsible for getting tea. They seemed as though they all had a specific role planned out. They were all so quiet, paying attention to such great detail of every movement during the ceremony. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. One of the monks handed me a small white ceramic scoop with the dried tea leaves inside. It was clearly artisan oolong tea as it leaves were expertly rolled and the leaves were all in tact. The leaves had colors of black, brown and green running through and were long, thin and twisted. They smelled of lightly roasted peach and nutty oolong tea. I felt a light breeze coming from my left to which was a thin pine forest set against the mountains. The scent of pine trees mixed with incense filled my nostrils. One of the monks gently handed me a warm round teacup filled with fresh brewed local oolong tea they had grown. . The liquor was a golden light brown color. The brew had a sweet roasted peachy scent that filled my nostrils. Every movement, every scent, brought me into each new moment filled with fresh clarity and awareness. I envied these monks lives. As we left one of the female monks handed me a gift of a bracelet made out of a brownish red translucent stone. She said if I carried it with me, it would bring me good karma as this bracelet has good karma with it. Four years later I still carry this bracelet with me to this day on all my travels.

As we left the temple, I sat back and reflected on the beauty of such a peaceful and simple existence their lives were like. I wondered at how the complexity that we add to our own lives has taken us away from enjoying the simple beauties of life as I pondered my time having tea with the Buddhists in Chaozhou.

-JT Hunter

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Buddhist Tea Culture

In every spiritual culture I studied in China, they all believed in the unseen powers of tea. They all had some ritual of infusing energetic energy into the tea, whether it was through prayer or ceremony. When I was I was living in Yunnan Province, China I was exposed to Tibetan Buddhist Culture. I ended up studying some Tibetan Buddhist tea culture and was amazed at what I had learned.

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book on my tea hunting adventures in China.

“There are some Buddhist temples in China and Tibet where they will put the tea on an alter and pray everyday. One of my good friends, Lao You, from China, lived in Tibet for several years monastically. He was deeply into the Tibetan Buddhist culture and spirituality. After living among the monks he brought back one of these teas that had been on the alter. It was a raw Puer tea that had been on an alter in a Buddhist monastery for over 20 years! It was a very low quality Puer, but the Buddhists believed that this Puer was now very special, as it had been prayed upon for so long. It was not appealing to the eye. Most people would pass this tea off as a bad tea and not even bother to drink it never mind pay any attention to it. When my friend Lao You brewed this tea it was like no other I had ever had. Similar to the consistency of the wild black tea that Master Yu had brewed for me in Wuyi Mountain this tea was thick and almost sticky. It had a very aged taste. When it first hit your tongue you could taste that it was very old tea, but after that initial taste left it opened into a deep complex flavor that changed from earthy to slightly nutty and autumn like tastes. The leaves were dark brown from naturally fermenting over the years. This had even a more full consistency than the wild black. When I first tried it I actually didn’t like it. Other friends of ours were almost repulsed by it. Lao You loved it and paid no mind to anyone’s opinions of it. After several cups I grew more and more fond of it. After a few days I felt I had to drink it everyday. The way it made me feel was amazing. I felt very happy and light when I drank it. It was interesting because some people either didn’t like it at all and others were totally into it like me.”

There is much more to this chapter to come so stay tuned for the book release in June!

In good tea!

JT

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“Tea is the elixir of life.”

-Lao Tzu

Here is another excerpt from my upcoming book on my tea hunting experiences in China. I go into detail on my experiences studying tea with Taoist masters and even at Taoist Monasteries.

I learned all about Taoist Temple tea and tea ceremony in Wuyishan in Fujian, China. I studied with a group of Taoists at a temple that grew their tea in accordance with Feng Shui principles. Feng Shui is an ancient system of geomancy that uses the laws of heaven and earth to help improve one’s life. Many people in China use Fengshui principles to design houses, gardens and even office buildings. It is said that when parts of the capital of China, Beijing such as Tiananmen Square was built the architects used Feng Shui. The Chinese believe that good Feng Shui design can bring good luck, fortune or improve someone’s life.  The energy was perfect for this. They placed the tea garden in an energetic vortex section of the temple grounds. There was a river flowing in almost a semi-circle around it. The sun hit it perfectly. It was at the bottom of a huge mountain, which caught the energy flowing. Basically they had set this up so that is was on the receiving end of massive amounts of energy flowing from the river to the mountains to the whole energetic flow of the place.

Taoist Tea Ceremony

The Taoists tea ceremony focuses on the harmony between nature and human. This is the philosophy of Tao. As you drink your mind should have a connection with the natural spirit. When you sit let all thoughts leave. Through tea you have a direct connection to nature. When you drink tea you should quiet the mind and be mindful.

 ”What I learned from this is to allow the way you brew tea to become an expression of yourself.”

I met one Taoist who was meticulous with every action in the tea ceremony. His clothes were also very clean, and his hair was neatly kept. During another Taoist tea ceremony at a beautiful, ancient temple in the mountains, the monk who was doing tea ceremony was almost rough with the way he brewed tea. I noticed his hair was a uncombed, his clothes were not clean. He looked rough around the edges and the way he brewed tea was a reflection of him. When you look at these two comparisons through this lens it is easy to judge their level of mastery. To judge their level of mastery of the Taoist teachings on this level would be shallow. In fact, the neat, clean kept Taoist lived a completely different life than the more grungy rough one. The clean one lived in a major city. The rough one lived by himself in a Taoist temple carved out of stone deep in the mountains of Wuyishan. Judging their level of mastery of the Taoist teachings would actually be wrong all together. Simply put, the way they brew tea is a reflection of themselves. This would be the Taoist way to look at it rather than judge. What I learned from this is to allow the way you brew tea to become an expression of yourself.

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Here is a brand new tea hunting video we recently completed: Journey to Wuyi Mountain. This video will take you into the heart of Wuyishan to where we buy our Wuyi teas from, who is picking the teas and who is processing the teas. Wuyishan is a Taoist mountain area nestled deep in Fujian Province that is famous for their yan cha or rock Oolongs. The Oolongs that come from this region are famous for their rich, unique taste, but also for their incredible Qi. In this video you will see Wuyi Taoist Master Yu performing Qigong inside the tea plantation using the Qi of the tea! Many of the scenes were filmed during our Wuyi Mountain Tea & Qi Retreat. There is another scene of the most incredible Taoist monk I have ever met. He lives by himself in the rock temple in the video. He grows all his own food and even his own tea. The Wuyi Farmers’ Collective is a tea farmer’s collective deep in the mountains of Wuyishan. The farmer’s livelihood are Wuyi Oolong and Black teas. This is a rare village in where the profits are divided equally amongst the group, which is the Fairest of Trade. They are like a big family as their village is less than 50 people, has a courtyard in the center and surrounded by beautiful mountains. The houses are all clean and good condition with organic vegetables growing all around. Their teas are exquisite, some of the best we have seen come out of Wuyishan. In addition they have very rare, wild teas they harvest from a bamboo forest. They have a rare, wild, ancient tea tree forest that has been harvested for generations. Buy any of the teas below and support the livelihood of this wonderful village.

Here is the Video

http://youtu.be/LdG4IjUISQE

Choose the Wuyi Mountain Farmer’s Collective Teas:

• Wuyi Golden Water
• Big Red Robe (Dahongpao)
• Big Red Robe Premium
• Wild Rock Oolong (Da Hong Pao) 

The post New Tea Hunting Video: Journey To Wuyi Mountain appeared first on Wild Tea Qi.

“Ye sheng Jin Jun Mei”, this is a type of Wild Lapsong Souchong. I have seen many Lapsong Souchongs, but never one that was wild. He went on, “Tea is an extremely absorbent plant that was constantly taking in energy from everywhere on a multi-dimensional level.  If a tea is next to fragrant flowers it will take that fragrance on. If it is next to pine trees it will have some characteristics of the pine. This is on one dimension, but it goes deeper than this,” he said. “Tea is absorbing not only smells, but also absorbs energy from the human beings it comes into contact with.” This reminded me of the stories I have read about in books of how plants respond to people talking to them. I remember reading that they grow better when the caretaker speaks to it. “Tea is also absorbing the energy of the universe. It even absorbs constellation energy.” Intrigued by this I asked him to explain. “This tea that we are about to drink is has absorbed energy from the constellation of Pleiades. When the tea is just about ready, I wait until the tree is aligned with Pleiades and right at that moment, I pluck it.” This is the work of a true master I thought. Master Yu was trained since childhood to pick teas. Combining his knowledge of tea harvesting with his Taoist practices he became a tea artisan like no other I had met.

Now it was time to drink that Wild Lapsong Souchong which I was nearly frothing at the mouth to drink. I couldn’t wait any longer. When he steeped it the sweet smell permeated the room. I looked at my small cup, took a whiff of that amazing smell and took one small sip. Following it through my mouth, it was almost orgasmic for my tongue. I swallowed it and followed it down my throat. It felt like a more thick liquid than a regular tea. It had an almost sticky like quality to it. Master Yu confirmed this to me as he said this is because the spirit of this tea is stronger. Almost as soon as I could feel the warm liquid fill my stomach, I felt an energy rising all the way up to my head. Pretty soon my whole body had a vibrating feeling to it. It wasn’t like a caffeine rush; it was something deeper, something more powerful. After several more cups, I felt like I was in a different dimension. I felt like I was getting high off this tea and it was incredible.

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Hunting the Real Organic Tie Guan Yin

When I was in China in 2008 I went through a period of some serious Tie Guan Yin drinking. Everywhere I went people were drinking Tie Guan Yin. Even while waiting at the car wash they brewed us Tie Guan Yin.

Tie Guan Yin, which literally means Iron Guan Yin. is a variety of Chinese Oolong tea that  originated in the 19th century in Anxi which is located in Fujian Province. Guan Yin is a Buddha known as the Goddess of Mercy. The Taiwanese are mostly from Fujian so when they left the mainland they brought their Tie Guan Yin with them and grew it in Taiwan. Many varieties of Taiwan Oolong tea originate from Tie Guan Yin in Anxi.

Anyone could understand why it was so popular, the taste is amazing with floral flavors and aromas that leave a sweet aftertaste in your mouth after you drink it. The kind that was most popular in China at that time was the lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin and had a orchid like flavor and aroma. It had a beautiful jade green liquor. It was beautiful shades of light and dark green, rolled tightly into nugget like shapes. It also has a powerful energy and it is relatively high in caffeine. The feeling of drinking Tie Guan Yin felt almost euphoric. I felt I had to have it. If I was in a bad mood, it always made me feel better. If I was depressed it brought me out of it. If I was tired it woke me up. If I were bored, a cup of Tie Guan Yin would keep me entertained with all the wonderful flavors and nuances. I realized just how addicted I was becoming when I became agitated if I didn’t have my Tie Guan Yin by late morning. When I couldn’t have it I was dreaming about it.

After several months of this non-stop Tie Guan Yin drinking I noticed that after I ate breakfast and had my first cups of Tie Guan Yin my digestion did not feel right. I felt I was not digesting my food properly. I felt acid feelings rising from my stomach and into my throat. I noticed this happened right after I ate breakfast and then had the Tie Guan Yin. I had to stop having it right after breakfast so I did and the problem went away for a bit. After sometime I started noticing this feeling happening whenever I drank Tie Guan Yin. The next year many people in China were talking about how so many people were getting stomach and digestive problems after drinking Tie Guan Yin.  I had found out that there is no truly organic Tie Guan Yin in Anxi. To make matters worse I came to find many tea traders would take lower quality Tie Guan Yin and spray it with chemicals to add a better fragrance and flavor to it. I realized it must have been the pesticides. Now I really had to find an organic Tie Guan Yin and fast! Once again I went on the hunt for Tie Guan Yin, but this time it was for truly organic Tie Guan Yin. After speaking to many people they confirmed to me that you simply could not find truly organic Tie Guan Yin inside of Anxi. I heard there was one small factory producing top grade Tie Guan Yins several hundred miles from Anxi. They had EU Organic certification, which has some of the strictest standards of any Organic certs.  I first met Yang, the owner of the organic Tie Guan Yin company in Beijing when he was there on business. He was very polite and had an array of wealthy businessmen sitting around him drinking his Tie Guan Yin. When I first sipped it I loved it. It had a cleaner and pure taste than any other Tie Guan Yin I had ever had and yet it was organic. It may have not had the flavors of the award winning Tie Guan Yin, but it fit my principles of organic teas. I asked him if I could see his tea farm. He said he was very busy and I could watch a video he made. I didn’t want to become a serious customer of his unless I was able to see his farm. I gave him my contact info and asked him to call me when he had time. A year went by and I still had not heard a peep from this guy. This time I found him in Shenzhen when I called him and I happened to be there too. He agreed to meet where we sat together and had tea. I asked him again to see his farm and he gave me the same answer. It was frustrating and I guess he had enough customers that he was not interested. Another several months went by and I had more and more customers begging me for organic Tie Guan Yin. I was personally drinking his tea, but without seeing the actual plantation I was not ready to vouch for it with my customers. One day I was leaving Wuyi Mountain in Fujian from the spring harvest and decided I would give it one more shot to ask him to see the plantation. He said he was not there, but his wife could meet me. In fact she sent a driver to drive 8 hours to pick us up and bring us all the way there. I finally felt they realized I could be a real customer for them. The drive there was stunning. There were endless mountain roads with waterfalls, rivers and lush green forests everywhere.  Zhou, Yang’s wife met us at the tea factory, which was settled at the bottom of a mountain. When we got to her factory everyone in the car was tired from driving, but after a few cups of her Tie Guan Yin we perked right up. She had several grades and even had one that was laced with wildflower honey by her farm, which was the perfect combination.

That night we drove to the top of the mountain to sleep. No electricity in the house. Everything was lit by candlelight and food was cooked over a fire. It was rustic and felt good. Early the next morning the roosters crowing woke us up. I did my morning Qigong routine with the fresh mountain air overlooking a gorgeous view. Her staff cooked us a delicious breakfast cooked over the fire and some nice tea to go with it.

After breakfast we hiked down a little to the tea gardens. I noticed there were solar panels all over. I asked Zhou what they were for and she began to explain their philosophy and it hit home with me. She was a doctor, so she took health seriously and had grown tired of her job. Her husband and her had always dreamed of the farm life and loved tea. They decided to put their dreams together and create a tea plantation. They loved Tie Guan Yin as it was their favorite tea, but realized they simply could not get truly organic Tie Guan Yin anywhere. They found the mountain that their current plantation is on almost 7 years ago and began planting. They believed in a sustainable approach to farming and thus had solar panels installed so there is no electricity used it is all done with solar energy. They believed in creating a family like atmosphere with the tea pickers and those who were processing the tea. You could tell their relationship was very close. The tea farmers lived a great life at the top of the mountain. Even though it had no electricity, everyone seemed happy. The housing was clean and the space was large. In addition they had their own organic farm just for the staff at the top of the mountain with free-range chickens running everywhere. I actually wouldn’t mind living there myself, it was quite peaceful and nice. After this I knew I had found the right Tie Guan Yin grown with the right principles for my customers.

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